Percy Cudlipp (10 November 1905 – 5 November 1962), was a prominent

Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peop ...

journalist.

Biography

Percy Cudlipp was born at 180 Arabella Street,

Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...

, the son of a travelling salesman, and was the brother of

Hugh Cudlipp Hubert Kinsman Cudlipp, Baron Cudlipp, OBE (28 August 1913 – 17 May 1998), was a Welsh journalist and newspaper editor noted for his work on the ''Daily Mirror'' in the 1950s and 1960s. He served as chairman of the Mirror Group group of ...

(later Baron Cudlipp) and Reginald Cudlipp, both notable journalists. The eldest of the three, Percy was described by

Douglas Jay Douglas Patrick Thomas Jay, Baron Jay, PC (23 March 1907 – 6 March 1996) was a British Labour Party politician. Early life Educated at Winchester College and New College, Oxford, Jay won the Chancellor's English Essay in 1927 and gained a ...

as the most serious-minded. All three were educated at the Gladstone Primary School and Howard Gardens High School, Cardiff. Percy Cudlipp began his journalistic career as a messenger boy for the ''

South Wales Echo The ''South Wales Echo'' is a daily tabloid newspaper published in Cardiff, Wales and distributed throughout the surrounding area. It has a circulation of 7,573. Background The newspaper was founded in 1884 and was based in Thomson House, ...

'', later training as a reporter, and in 1924 became a columnist for the ''Evening Chronicle'' in Manchester. In 1925 he began working as a drama critic and columnist on London's '' Sunday News''. In 1927 he married Gwendoline James, and they had one son. Cudlipp had a sideline in writing light verse and lyrics. He became editor of the ''

Evening Standard The ''Evening Standard'', formerly ''The Standard'' (1827–1904), also known as the ''London Evening Standard'', is a local free daily newspaper in London, England, published Monday to Friday in tabloid format. In October 2009, after be ...

'', then owned by

Max Aitken, 1st Baron Beaverbrook William Maxwell Aitken, 1st Baron Beaverbrook (25 May 1879 – 9 June 1964), generally known as Lord Beaverbrook, was a Canadian-British newspaper publisher and backstage politician who was an influential figure in British media and politics o ...

, in 1933, aged 27, and was at one time the youngest editor in Fleet Street. As a socialist, Cudlipp was suspicious of the Fascist movement in Germany and encouraged a campaign against them. He moved on to become editor of the '' Daily Herald'' in 1940. In 1953, Cudlipp unexpectedly resigned the editorship of the ''Daily Herald'', an action that has been attributed to the ongoing conflicts between the paper's management and the trade union movement and the difficulty of retaining editorial control. In the following years he was a columnist for the ''News Chronicle''. He was subsequently approached by the team, including scientist Tom Margerison, who hoped to set up the ''

New Scientist ''New Scientist'' is a magazine covering all aspects of science and technology. Based in London, it publishes weekly English-language editions in the United Kingdom, the United States and Australia. An editorially separate organisation publishe ...

'' and, despite claiming to know nothing about science, became the first editor of the new magazine, which was launched in November 1956. He was a frequent radio broadcaster, contributing to quiz shows and news programmes on the BBC World Service. He died suddenly, at his home, 11 Falmouth House, Clarendon Place, London, just short of his 57th birthday, while still employed as editor of the ''New Scientist''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cudlipp, Percy 1905 births 1962 deaths London Evening Standard people Journalists from Cardiff